Starry Nights Cinema: Solving & Evolving

This 70-minute international collection uses animated and live-action stories to explore obstacles, adaptation, risk, family change, environmental responsibility, grief, and personal growth. The program mixes English-language, subtitled, and dialogue-free films and is recommended for ages 10 and older.

Short-film lineup

• Damji: A boy’s effort to conserve water and restore a lake gradually inspires his community.
• Gravity Racer: A fearless four-year-old tests courage, boundaries, and risk assessment in a homemade box car.
• Leo Rides a Bike: A child’s growing cycling skills unfold against recognizable Providence scenery.
• Mom and Dad Live in Different Houses: A real father and daughter use home-movie imagery to explore co-parenting and life between two homes.
• Once Upon a Time There Was a Mountain: A mountain with legs repeatedly tries to escape destructive human machinery.
• The Piano: Music connects a daughter with her father and later helps her carry that bond into another generation.
• Pow!: A child searching for a charger at an intertribal powwow learns to put down the game and engage with family and community.
• Prout: Emergency workers Bean and Spaghet attempt a rescue on a planet used as Earth’s dumping ground; the film won the festival’s 2026 audience award for animated short.
• The Sun & the Wind: Two cosmic rivals discover that warmth can succeed where force does not.
• Wa’ad: Unsolicited parenting advice and social expectations strain an Emirati father-daughter relationship.
• Why Are You Like This?: An animated musical follows a sleepless character trying to identify who—or what—has pushed life off course.

Outdoor-screening details

Admission and popcorn are free. Bring chairs or blankets for lawn seating; picnic baskets are welcome. The event is weather-dependent, and the lineup may change without notice. The organizer also maintains a general notice that attendees may be photographed for documentation and promotional use.